Foes running hard for high court

Most of the chairs in the audience were empty at a retirement-community candidates' forum in Des Moines. But it didn't stop the most diligent of candidates from giving a five-minute "why-you-should-vote-for-me" pitch, sandwiched between Mariner score announcements.

Susan Owens and Jeff Sullivan drove for hours to get to the campaign event, not wanting to miss an opportunity to convince voters that each would make the best state Supreme Court justice. The Position 2 seat is being vacated by retiring Justice Richard Guy.

Owens is a Clallam County District Court judge who says she works in the "people's court," where drunken-driving cases, assaults, domestic violence, traffic tickets and property disputes are heard.

Sullivan is a well-known Yakima County prosecutor who has been involved in Republican politics and community organizations that benefit young people. He is also president of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.

Both candidates have been re-elected many times. One has experience on the bench; one does not.

The six-year, $123,600-a-year judicial seat is one of four open on the state Supreme Court and one of two competitive races.

Among seven candidates who ran in last month's primary, Owens and Sullivan emerged with the most votes.

The primary results surprised Owens and her campaign manager. Although Owens has been a judge in Forks for 19 years and is well-known among district-court judges statewide, she is virtually unknown in the rest of the state.

Yet she topped all the candidates, coming in with 26 percent of the votes, compared to 18 percent for Sullivan.

The information in the voters pamphlet helped introduce Owens to candidates, said Washington State Bar President Jan Eric Peterson.

Being the only woman among seven candidates and one of only two with judicial experience also could have been reasons voters chose her, Peterson said.

`A regular person'

Owens, who says she's "a regular person just like everyone else," believes her grass-roots experience and common sense are just what the Supreme Court needs.

Owens, 51, is a North Carolina native who put down roots in the Forks area about 25 years ago.

She became judge of the Forks division of the district court in 1982 and later also became chief judge of the Lower Elwha S'Klallam Tribal Court. Between the two, she's handled a wide range of civil and criminal cases.

"I know what everyday people's problems are and what their concerns are," she said.

A divorced single mother, she's active in the Chamber of Commerce, takes her children with her to the local jail after church on Sunday when checking on the welfare of inmates, and volunteers to teach fifth-graders about the courts.

She has taught judges and attorneys about domestic violence through the state Office of the Administrator of the Courts and is part of Justice Guy's task force for improving public access to the courts.

She also is president-elect of the District and Municipal Court Judges Association.

In the beginning, Owens put little emphasis on campaigning, but she now takes it seriously and is out talking to as many voters as she can.

She has received the support of a number of district and municipal court judges and attorneys, as well as an endorsement from the National Women's Political Caucus.

The biggest difference between her and Sullivan, Owens said, is that "I'm a judge and he never has been."

When she started her career, she thought being a judge would be easy.

"It's not. I have the most difficult job in the courtroom," she said.

"Not only are there constitutional and public-safety issues" but quick decisions need to be made "in the heat of the battle."

The King County Bar Association rated Owens "adequate," a rating she believes is based more on the fact that she's less known to the Puget Sound legal community than her opponent. Sullivan was rated "well qualified."

Yakima County prosecutor

Sullivan, a Yakima County prosecutor since 1974, says his major strength against Owens is the depth of his legal experience.

In two-and-a-half decades, he has had a private practice, served as county prosecutor and appeared in every court from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sullivan, 57, is a native of Yakima. He not only has the backing of Justices Guy and Phil Talmadge, but he also has the support of many prosecutors and Superior Court judges throughout the state.

As of this week, he has raised about $65,000 in contributions, nearly twice as much as the $34,000 collected by Owens.

Sullivan considered running for state attorney general in 1980 but changed his mind and instead ran for another term as prosecutor. He's been in office ever since.

Yakima County Superior Court Judge Jim Gavin, who has known Sullivan for years, described him as "a fair person."

"He's strict and enforces the law and very much believes in enforcing law equally for all," Gavin said.

Though Sullivan's record has been distinguished, some of his high-profile cases have drawn controversy, mainly involving the Yakama Nation. Unlike Owens, who handles lower-court cases, Sullivan has presented two cases at the U.S. Supreme Court. One was a 1989 case involving land-use practices on the reservation and the other a 1992 case involving tax collection.

Sullivan is now battling the Yakamas over their recent decision to ban alcohol from the reservation, a controversial move because it also prohibits stores owned by non-Indians from selling alcohol. The cities of Toppenish and Wapato are on the reservation.

Jack Fiander, chairman of the legislative committee for the tribal council, refers to Sullivan in bitter terms and says the Prosecutor's Office doesn't respect tribal treaty rights.

"We're all living in fear that Jeff is spending good time in the west campaigning, portraying himself as a moderate," Fiander said.

Sullivan also sparked a reaction in 1979 when he started a policy requiring rape victims to take lie-detector tests. The policy was ended when the American Civil Liberties Union and victim-advocacy groups protested.

Today, Sullivan said those lie-detector tests were a mistake and that the practice was started to encourage defendants to accept plea-bargains rather than going to trial.

The married father of four and grandfather to eight, Sullivan grew up in Yakima. His parents ran a dry-cleaning business, and as a youth he worked in the asparagus harvest.

If he became a justice on the Supreme Court, Sullivan says, he would work to ensure that complaints about judges are handled more quickly and more efficiently. A complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct can easily take 18 months or more to be resolved.

He said he would also like to see court rules changed so that jurors could ask witnesses questions during a criminal trial by submitting them to a judge for consideration. He also favors consideration of a system that would allow court documents to be filed electronically.

"This would be a tremendous benefit to citizens," Sullivan said. "This is the wave of the future and Washington should be leading it."

Nancy Bartley's phone message number is 253-437-9461.